


Lionhearted

by Electrikatty



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Anxiety Attacks, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, Sickfic, but i make it up with lots of fluff, it gets really dark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-10-31 10:29:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10897476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Electrikatty/pseuds/Electrikatty
Summary: It's a struggle for everyone. They're struggling to stay afloat in the sea of stress and anxiety.And Pidge accidentally tipped the boat.orPidge gets sick and everyone helps while trying to juggle their own problems.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was an assignment for my English class. It was literally to "write fanfiction". There were a bunch of random requirements, so if the story sounds weird in the beginning, that's why. I also had to describe everyone. That was fun.  
> The story's already almost done; As I post this, I'm writing the last chapter. I expect this to be around 9k words. That's my longest fic ever.  
> Whelp, hope you enjoy.

Pidge was always one to work hard on her computer or on some other new technology on the castle-ship. Working was a constant in her life; it made her feel productive and good. Hunk loved engineering, so he enjoyed being with her. Lance joined in a lot even if he had no clue what they were talking about. They had been friends before becoming paladins of Voltron, so they were really close. Hunk and Lance were thoughtful of Pidge’s situation pertaining to her missing brother and father and were her support system whenever searching for them kept her busy.

And she was so busy.

Pidge was working on decoding information on prisoners she had taken from a Galra ship they had infiltrated recently. Luckily, she knew her brother was safe with a rebel group because of some footage she discovered. She still had to look for her father. Who knew where he could be?

Since Shiro was extra busy planning attacks with Allura, Hunk took it upon himself to make sure Pidge was taking care of herself; Lance also came to chat with them every so often. Pidge often lied and told them that she was going to sleep “As soon as I finish up this one part!” or “I’ll come to dinner soon, but bring me something if I miss?” 

Spoiler alert: she didn’t sleep (at least, intentionally), and she always missed meals.

Hunk always brought her food to her and caught her asleep on her computer late at night. His heart ached to comfort the girl. He knew he was going to have to intervene at some point, but he had no idea how to go about doing that. He knew how important it was for her to find her family. How do you tell a child to stop looking for their dad?

Luckily, albeit sadly, for Hunk, he was beaten to the punch by Pidge’s own body.

 

Deep down, Pidge knew she was probably sick. She hadn’t been taking care of herself lately. Her messy, brown hair was more tousled than usual, and she could feel sweat clinging to her pasty skin under her clothes. Her boots were kicked off under her desk, and as she grew warm her socks and green jacket suffered the same fate. Now she sat at her desk cross-legged on her chair in her white undershirt and grey shorts with her big, round glasses about to slide off her nose. 

Regardless, she ignored her own voice of reason and decided she was just tired. Sure, it might have been only mid-day (as much as it can be in the middle of space), but she might have stayed up late the nights before. She was just extra tired. 

She was too busy to be sick.

Pidge felt bad about lying to Hunk. He was easily the kindest out of them all, even if you wouldn’t know at a first glance from his large stature. He gave the biggest and best hugs, knowing not to suffocate his friend against his dark skin and yellow shirt. He didn’t deserve that, but she knew what she had to do. Her dad was top priority. 

By now, Hunk knew he could walk into the room and Pidge wouldn’t mind, so when Pidge heard footsteps, she wasn’t surprised. “Hey, Pidge? I brought your lunch.”

She wiped her hands over her face to try and wake herself up. “Thanks, Hunk. I appreciate it,” she said as she took the bowl from him.

Hunk looked at her in concern. “You doin’ okay?”

She grinned at him sheepishly. “Yeah, just a little tired.”

“Maybe if you slept more,” Hunk smirked as he rubbed his hand in her hair. She tried to ignore how dizzy she felt. “But this should help. I made it special to keep us energized.” Pidge caught on to what he meant though.  _ I made it special to keep you energized. _

“Aw, sweet! Thanks, Hunk!” She felt more awake just thinking about how much work she was going to get done.

 

Somehow, everything had gone downhill within the span of hours.

She wasn’t as tired, but her throat felt like it was scratched up with knives and when she tried to relieve her pain by coughing it only made it worse. Her body was wracked with shivers even though she felt warmer than what was comfortable. Her nose was runny, so she was glad she had snagged some tissues from... somewhere. Her head and ear were filled with pressure from what felt like bricks, which was causing her to work much slower than she wanted to. She had to  **coerce** her body into working with her. It would pass, right?

Needless to say she was getting frustrated and she was getting tired.

Of course right when she was at her lowest she would hear footsteps approaching the hangar. It sounded like Hunk had decided to bring Lance along with him, judging from the light footsteps of the lanky Cuban, or Lance could have very well decided to bring himself along. 

Pidge hurriedly shoved her tissues behind her computer and worked to make herself look fine. The quick movement made her increasingly dizzy, but she didn’t want to worry them and she didn’t want them to know. She wanted to keep working and if they knew she was sick, they would make her go to bed.

“Yo, Pidgeon! Mind if we eat with you?” Yep, that was Lance.

She blinked hard to get rid of the spots in her vision. “Uh, sure. Just try not to touch anything.”

Hunk chuckled, “I’ve learned my lesson.”

She took her food from them and turned back to her computer. She hoped she could seem fine if she didn’t let them see her too much. Lance seemed to have other plans.

“Nuh-uh!” Her chair was swiveled back around forcefully and suddenly she was facing Lance. “You’re going to eat with us.”

That’s when she noticed the couch cushions that had been brought in by Lance (how did she not notice them before?). She sighed because she knew this wasn’t a fight she was going to win. She was too tired to try. “Fine.”

Lance looked ready to argue, then grew confused. “Wait, what?” Pidge gave him a look, and Lance quickly fixed his attitude. “I mean, okay! Let’s get comfy!”

The pillows and cushions were thrown about by them and Pidge joined them to eat her food. It looked really good, but Pidge was worried about how her stomach would react. She had already accepted the fact that she was sick, but now she had to hide it.

She felt horrible. She wanted to keep working. She had to. But no, she had to get sick and screw up her ability to work. Who knew what would happen to her father if she didn’t work fast enough? What if he was really hurt and alone in a cell?

What if he was already dead?

“Hey, you alright? You’re shaking like a leaf.”

As if Lance had cast a spell on her by saying those words, tears sprung to her eyes. She curled up into herself to try and keep them from seeing her cry, but she knew that they could hear her hiccups and sniffles and coughs. She was a mess.

She felt someone take her food and heard the bowl clink on the floor as she was lifted by strong arms into someone’s lap. She bawled and coughed into her knees as Hunk cradled her and Lance rubbed her back. She knew they could feel the heat radiating off of her. But for now she didn’t care. She couldn’t care. All she could do was cry.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is more fluffy than anything with LANGST! Surprise! Hahahaha- I'm sorry.

Eventually, her tears let up but she still hid her face against her legs. She knew her face was a mess of snot and tears. She was embarrassed.

“Hey, Pidge?” They were still there. Hunk was talking to her. “Look at me?”

Pidge knew he really wasn’t asking, but she couldn’t make herself look up. She sniffed as she tried to burrow deeper into her legs as if they would swallow her up.

“That’s okay. Just listen to me, okay? You listening?” She nodded. “Okay. You’re working really hard, and Lance and I are really proud of how hard you’re working.” Lance patted her back as if to confirm what Hunk said. “But you need to take care of yourself. We understand that you want to find your dad, but what good is it if you hurt yourself?” He paused. “You know we don’t want you hurting yourself. Would your… Would your family let you do this to yourself?”

Pidge’s head whipped up to look at Hunk, wide eyed. He looked scared, worried if he said the wrong thing. But he was right.

Pidge recalled nights where her brother or father would catch her working, and she would be sent to bed. She remembered how they would hold her when she cried and panicked over her grades and her future and anything and everything.

She realized how much of a family they had become. They were her home away from home.

She felt the tears again, and she launched herself at Hunk, hugging him and crying into his shirt. Hunk hugged her back, and Lance joined in on their sides. Even though she was crying and sick and felt like she was going to pass out, she felt comfortable in their arms. She didn’t want to leave. She didn’t want to work.

They didn’t talk after she stopped crying. She was grateful, and eventually, she fell asleep.

Lance was infinitely confused. He had no idea how Pidge had gone from giving him a snarky look to sick and crying on Hunk in minutes. All he knew was that he wanted to help Pidge in whatever way he could.

He looked at Hunk for help, but all the latter did was motion for Lance to get off of them. Begrudgingly he did and watched Pidge with concern as she was still cradled against Hunk. Hunk gave him an apologetic look and asked quietly, “Can you clean up our mess while I put Pidge to bed?”

Lance nearly yelled in affirmation before he caught himself and nodded. He worked fast as Hunk carried Pidge to her room, grabbing all the cushions and bringing them back to the couch then took their bowls to the kitchen. That’s when he ran into Shiro on kitchen duty.

Said man gave Lance a concerned look. “Lance? What’s going on?”

Lance could guess that anyone would be concerned when he walked in with three bowls of varying amounts of food and disheveled hair and clothes. He realized embarrassingly that his eyes were probably still rimmed bright red from crying with Pidge (he didn’t let Pidge nor Hunk notice; he wasn’t important). He felt his face burn.

He tried to laugh it off. “You know, just…” He cleared his throat as he tried to come up with a good excuse. “cleaning up.” He made his way towards the sink and put the dishes down.

Shiro turned completely away from the sink to look at Lance. His face told him all he already knew. He wasn’t buying it. He was determined to ascertain what had happened with Lance.

Lance sighed in defeat. He leaned against the counter. “Pidge had a big meltdown. Hunk and I comforted and took care of her, so don’t worry. It’s just… I may have freaked while trying to help out but I just felt so bad because I was the one who asked her if she was okay and then she just started crying and-”

“Lance.” He looked up with a start at Shiro’s sympathetic face. “It’s okay.” Lance worried his lip between his teeth. The sight of the usually blithe kid suddenly becoming so diffident bothered the leader. Shiro motioned for him to hug him. Again, Lance sighed and acquiesced to the hug. “What matters is that you took care of her and she’s okay and resting now.” He pulled away and held Lance by the shoulders at arms-length. “I think we were all worried about her, so thank you.”

Lance was quick to argue. “It was mostly Hunk, though.”

Shiro smiled warmly. “Hunk would have probably flipped out on his own. You were good support for both him and Pidge.”

Finally Lance gave in and didn’t argue. He turned away and tried to act nonchalant. “Okay, whatever. I really need to check on Pidge.”

“Okay. I’ll get Allura and Coran and notify Keith on the situation.”

Lance nodded, but he didn’t turn to see if Shiro caught him. He ran in the opposite direction of Shiro’s footsteps.

He really wanted to just barrel into Pidge’s room, but he held himself back as he knocked on the cool metal. When the door opened after what felt like years, Hunk was the one to let him in. Lance made a beeline for Pidge’s bedside. Panic punched the air out of his lungs. Pidge looked as if she had gotten worse.

Before Lance could babble out of anxiety again, Hunk said, “Seems like Pidge caught a cold and let it get out of control. I’m not sure there’s much we can do until she wakes up.”

Lance rested his hand against Pidge’s face. He jolted when he felt the fire burning in her. “Santo- she’s scorching!” Lance squeaked before clamping his hand over his loud mouth.

They watched with bated breath as Pidge stirred and eventually settled.

Normally, Lance wouldn’t have been bothered by their bedrooms, but the stark white walls and the obvious disuse of the room set him on edge. He felt like he was in a hospital room with a bedridden patient, and that patient was one of his closest friends. He tried to make his dark thoughts come to a halt by staring out the window.

He could never get used to looking into space. They were in a different place every time he looked outside the castle, which meant new stars to watch in space. There was always a new planet to explore in space. Always a new cosmo to try and fathom in space. Trying to understand space made his head spin sometimes, but it helped him to think of the ocean. He missed the ocean. The ocean was what connected his family, but his family was on Earth. He missed home.

Luckily, he had a home away from home.

Eventually, Hunk looked up at Lance sadly and said, “I saw this coming and I didn’t even do anything about it.”

“Hey,” Lance said as he turned his head sharply, “no, don’t think like that. It wasn’t just you. We all could have done something about it before, but we didn’t.”

“And there’s no use in dwelling on the past.”

They turned to see Allura walking in front of Shiro, Keith, and Coran, who had what looked like a large barcode scanner with him. Allura definitely looked like the princess that she once was, her beautiful dress lightly trailing behind her on the ground and her near-white long hair, although a contrast to her dark skin, made her look as if she wasn’t flustered with the current situation. She looked at the downtrodden paladins. “What we need to do now is work with the present.”

“That’s exactly right,” Coran pitched in, trying to sound positive but worry could be heard in his voice. Being the oldest, many turned to him for guidance. He was also amazing with working on the ship because it was his father’s creation. With him gone, Coran had been the main technician for the entire castle-ship. Although he looked like a man to be feared in his intimidating suit, his face was that of a father’s. He sported few wrinkles on his pale skin, but his slicked-back hair and large mustache were still bright orange. He walked up to Pidge’s bedside and held up the device. “Since we can't put sick people in the healing pods, what this will do is scan Pidge’s body for abnormalities in her internal systems. I will then study the information from my computer with one of you so I know what exactly is normal for the human body and what is not.” He proceeded to scan Pidge, a faded red beam scrolling down her body. “Until then, you should try to regulate her temperature.”

Shiro was the unofficial leader of Voltron. He could keep a level head easily when needed most of the time, but sometimes things got rough, even for Shiro. His scar across the bridge of his fair nose and his prosthetic right arm were bleak reminders of his year of imprisonment from the Galra. That experience made him a great soldier and leader and he took advantage of that. Shiro quietly sighed and ran a hand through his white tuft of hair and through the black buzz in the back. Shiro nodded at Coran when he looked up. “Thank you, Coran. We’ll do what we can.”

Coran hurried out the door and called out, “Who’s coming with me?”

“I am!” Keith ran out after him, black mullet getting messy while running. Being a loner and short-tempered, he knew to go help Coran with his work in the lab. The tan southerner may be excellent in battle and while piloting, but he sadly had no domestic skills.

 

The rest of the night was a waiting game. The other four took shifts watching Pidge, and Lance had insisted he go first since Hunk had already looked after her, but eventually Shiro took control of first watch. Allura, Hunk, and Lance reluctantly settled down on the futons Allura had found. When Shiro wasn’t rinsing Pidge’s cold cloth, he was watching over them all fondly. _We really have become one big family._

Shiro was startled when he heard Pidge coughing. When it persisted and grew more harsh, Shiro leaned forward and helped Pidge sit up. She leaned heavily against Shiro’s chest as she coughed and hacked. When she settled, she wiped the tear tracks that had formed on her face and looked up. “Shiro? What are you…?”

Shiro was still clearly worried, but he looked happy that Pidge was conscious. “You’re sick and we’re taking care of you.”

“We?” She looked around and noticed the others sleeping on the floor. Allura slept on one futon by herself while Lance and Hunk had decided to push theirs together and the former was currently cuddling the latter in their sleep. Pidge couldn’t blame Lance. Hunk was basically a big teddy bear of love and affection.

As she slowly woke up, she realized what Shiro was really saying. They were taking shifts in the dead of night to watch her and make sure her condition didn’t retrogress. She was glad it was dark when she felt her face burn red. “You didn’t have to do this.” She didn’t turn to look at his reaction, but she heard him chuckle.

“Well, taking care of you doesn’t bother or burden us. You’re important to us, Pidge.”

She sighed. “I know.” She watched the others sleep as she tried to make sense of her thoughts. “Where is Keith? And is Coran piloting the ship?”

“They’re trying to figure out what bug you caught. I’m not sure how it works, but they’re making steady progress.”

Pidge chuckled and looked at Shiro. “What if they fell asleep?”

“That’s,” a smile grew on his face, “also possible.”

Pidge’s laughter grew until she began to cough again. She hated how the coughs shook her to her core. She hated how she had to lean against Shiro to keep herself steady. She hated how she felt dizzy as she coughed more than she breathed. She hated being sick.

When her coughs subsided, Shiro saw her exhaustion through her weak efforts to lift herself off of him. “Why not go back to sleep? You’ll feel better in the morning.”

She mumbled an affirmative that he could barely make out as “m’kay”, and he tucked her in. In any other situation, he would have been embarrassed. He briefly wallowed on this until Pidge said something in her sleep that hit Shiro hard.

“G’night, dad.”

He felt himself tear up as he leaned back in his chair. He put his hands over his face.

 _God_ , what he would do to take her pain away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Santo" means "holy" in Spanish. I asked a friend for the word, but they're just taking Spanish II. If any of you know the language better and know what he should have said for "holy", lemme know.  
> I hope I wrote Shiro right, I'm not too confident about that.  
> I'm still updating every two days, so next chapter is Wednesday!  
> Comments are appreciated! :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter at first is very explanation-heavy on quintessence and whatever, then things happen. Hope it's not too boring!

That morning, everyone gathered in the common room except Keith, who offered to watch Pidge while Coran filled everyone in on what Pidge had. The common room would be a relaxing place on any other day. The semi-circular couch was a comfy place to wind down after a long day of training or fighting. Now everyone stood or sat twiddling their thumbs or bouncing their feet. When Coran  _ finally _ arrived, everyone perked up as he spoke, “Alright, so here’s the deal: Pidge got a generic virus that’s very similar to what you call a “cold” that developed into an infection of the ear. So I have good news and bad news!”

Lance sat up on the couch quickly. “Good news first, please.”

Coran turned to Lance and closed his eyes as he twirled his orange mustache. “The good news is that it will most likely just run its course and disappear.” He opened his eyes and looked at Lance with a pitiful face that did not belong on their normally-exuberant father-figure. “Bad news is that while it might fade away, it’ll still be painful to go through, and it’ll be tough to watch. If it doesn’t begin to fade soon, it could develop into something worse, and we’ll need to resort to using your quintessence to create medicine before Pidge is in jeopardy.”

Hunk spoke up at that. “Why don’t we just make the medicine now? If it’ll heal Pidge, we should just make her medicine, right?”

Coran’s face fell, and Allura had to step in to explain. “It’s a last resort because it’s painful to get quintessence extracted from yourself. It’s the purest essence of your very being. You all may have a great amount in you as we saw from when we faced Zarkon a second time, but any amount of extraction can be harmful. Sometimes it makes you more vulnerable to illness and disease, and losing too much at once can throw off the balance of your mind. Your emotions become erratic, and… you may lose the will to live.”

The paladins’ hearts sank; Lance chewed his lip, Hunk gripped his knees, and Shiro stood more stoic than ever. Coran hastily jumped back in and spoke before they got too scared. “Never fear! We would never extract that much quintessence for simple medication. You would be fine if that were the case. We just don’t want to take the risks unless absolutely necessary.” 

Hunk reached over and grabbed Lance in a one-armed side hug. Lance immediately knew what this was about and looked away as he felt his face flush. “Yeah, that’d be best. Uh…” Hunk stuttered while he looked to his friend for confirmation to say something, and Lance nodded. “Lance was… depressed once, and we don’t want that to ever happen again.”

No one seemed too fazed by what Hunk had said, knowing that Lance didn’t want his depression romanticized and wanted to move on, and Allura spoke up. “And that is why we would leave it as our last resort. We don’t know what you all have previously been through, and don’t want to start up something like that.”

Lance mumbled out a quiet, “thank you.” 

Loud and fast footsteps approaching the common room startled them all out of the almost-calm atmosphere. When the door opened, Keith leaned against the doorframe and worked to catch his breath from his sprint. 

Shiro was the first to ask, “Keith, what’s wrong? Is Pidge okay?” Everyone jumped up from their places and rushed over to Keith.

Keith looked confused until realization dawned on him. He said, “No, sorry. Nothing’s wrong. Pidge’s awake and can’t sleep. I wasn’t sure what to do, so-”

“Holy crow, Keith!” Lance interrupted. “Why wouldn’t we be scared if you came in like this? You-” Lance stopped before he said more, took a deep breath, and restart. “Why’d you come running then?”

Keith’s face flushed, and it wasn’t because of his run. He stuttered, “I, uh, didn’t want to leave her alone for long.”

While some were visibly confused with Keith’s behavior, Shiro grinned at him. He understood Keith’s asocial nature and wanted to encourage him trying to help other people instead of frightening or agitating him into no longer trying. “That’s very kind of you.”

They didn’t know Keith’s face could get redder, but it did. He turned away from them. “I-I’m gonna run back!” And he did just that. 

“Hey, Mullet! Wait up!” Lance raced after him, and the other four watched with various amounts of amusement. 

“I guess we should catch up,” Hunk said, and they walked down the hallway.

 

Pidge was, indeed, very conscious and cupping her ear with her hand. She looked more annoyed than anything while sat up against the headboard. She looked as if she could easily fall back to sleep with her eyes as droopy as they were. She looked up when they came in. “Hey, guys.”

“Don’t you ‘hey, guys’ me, Pidge,” Lance said, but he wasn’t even remotely mad. He was actually smiling, relieved to see Pidge better. “We were worried, kiddo.”

A sheepish smile grew on her own face and she looked back down at her hands on her blanket. “Sorry, I thought I could handle it on my own.” 

A silence fell over them and Shiro was the one to step in. “Next time, tell us when you’re feeling bad. That goes for all of us. If you find yourself sick or… anything else, find someone to talk to. You don’t have to tell us all if you don’t want to, just make sure you talk to someone.” 

Pidge nodded, and looked up at them all. She grinned at them with clear embarrassment even though she was happy. Then her face screwed up in confusion. “Where’s Coran?”

“Right here!” Most flinched as Coran suddenly jumped into the room with a bowl of broth. He crossed the room to Pidge’s bedside. “Here you are,” he said as he laid the small tray on the bedside next to her. 

Pidge eyed the broth before saying, “Thanks.” She wasn’t anticipating her stomach’s reaction to food and fell back against the headboard. She regretted it when she felt her ear start throbbing again.

“So, how you feelin’?” Lance asked hesitantly after seeing her pain.

“Well, um… my nose isn’t runny and my throat is only a little sore,” As if to confirm, she coughed lightly. “but my head and ear still hurt.”

“All you need to do is eat the broth and rest,” Allura said as she smiled warmly. “You’ll feel better in no time.”

Pidge gazed at the broth bowl again as if it were a mild annoyance. “I hope so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one's so short ;-; I make up for it after this. The next three chapters are... exciting. ;)


	4. Chapter 4

Pidge was making steady progress. Her fever had begun to lower slowly over the past few days of rest, but being bedridden made her restless at times. More times than they could count on one hand did one of them find Pidge leaning against a wall panting outside of her room. They lightly reprimanded her, saying she may be feeling better but she wasn’t well yet and that she still needed rest. Sometimes she’d have the energy to roll her eyes at them. They were  _ just  _ like her parents and brother.

She also hated the broth. It didn’t taste bad, but it was bland. Coran told her that apparently that was because if the food had no flavor, those who had a sensitive stomach with illness wouldn’t react poorly with the meal. At least, most of the time. Sometimes Pidge’s stomach still flared up angrily at the nutrition. Hunk and Lance tried to spoon feed her at first, and she grew furious at that.  _ She wasn’t a baby! _

Even though being sick absolutely sucked, she was getting better. Her fever was almost non-existent, and her head and ear aches had reduced to a dull throb. She anticipated every morning, hoping for the day she woke up 100% better.

Then, things went downhill.

 

It was a night when Lance was on watch. He dozed for around half an hour until harsh coughing woke him up. He gazed around in a half-asleep state for a moment until he remembered where he was and why.

Pidge was sick and had somehow gotten worse fast.

He sat Pidge up to help ease her coughs. He hated the sound as they just kept coming. He felt the intense heat coming off of her when she leaned against him. Then she was dry-heaving, and Lance really began to panic.

His thoughts raced for a solution. He couldn’t leave Pidge. He didn’t want to jostle her while trying to take her to help. He also really didn’t want to yell. But as he watched Pidge gasp for air against his chest, he really didn’t have much choice.

“Hey, I need help! Help! Pidge is… not great!”

It sounded dumb but it’d have to do. Act now, be embarrassed later.

Keith frequently trained in the middle of the night. Whether he simply couldn’t sleep or was stressed, it helped him clear his thoughts. There wasn’t much to think about when fighting against a high-level training bot.

He had been walking to the showers after training when he heard something off. Whoever it was sounded panicked and a lot like... Lance? As he sped up his pace, he tried to figure out what could cause Lance to be yelling in the dead of night. Did he have a nightmare, or…?

_ Wait, isn’t Lance watching Pidge tonight? _

He didn’t want to hesitate after that thought because if he was right, he needed to get there. Fast.

Lance didn’t even notice Keith enter the room until the latter had a gripped hand on his shoulder. “What happened?”

Lance was scared. He didn’t even have to say it out loud, it was so obvious. When he tried to speak, all he could do was stutter incoherently. 

Keith stared at Lance holding Pidge wide-eyed. The sight of his crying and panicked friend holding his other gasping friend made  _ him  _ feel ill. He nodded. “Okay… Okay. I’ll get the others.” And Keith left as quickly as he came.

Lance resumed his panicking (not like he ever stopped) until Keith reentered with Shiro. Shiro quickly slid onto the bed and took Pidge from Lance. Even though Lance had spent many nights caring for one of his many siblings, cousins, nieces, and nephews, he wasn’t as good as Shiro was when it came to staying calm in a situation like this. Keith pulled Lance up and off the bed towards him and looked him square in the face. Lance could tell that Keith was terrified, both for Pidge and Lance. Keith decided that if Shiro could watch Pidge until Hunk got Allura and Coran, then Keith would try to help Lance calm from his panic attack.

“Lance, look at me.” There was no room for argument in his voice. Lance seemed to notice this too because he looked at him. Good. That was good. But Lance was still breathing too fast and crying.

“Do you know the counting thing? For your breathing?” Lance nodded as Keith lowered them both against the wall on the ground. Lance tried to look back at Pidge when she heard her coughing again, but Keith pulled his chin back to face him. “No, focus on me. You need to breathe, Lance.”

Lance nodded again and closed his eyes at his attempts. It was hard but he didn’t want to disappoint Keith but oh god it was so hard and he was gasping again-

“Hey, you did okay.”  _ Where is Hunk?  _ “Try again.”

As Lance tried to breathe in another 4 count, Hunk, Allura, and Coran finally came in. Hunk first flipped out when he saw Pidge, but worked to calm down when he noticed Lance. He was familiar with this and knew how to handle it well. Keith looked relieved when Hunk sat in front of Lance and said, “I’ll take it from here. Thanks, Keith.”

Keith didn’t say anything as he hopped up to go to Pidge. He was worried he did something wrong, but he didn’t have time to worry. If he was going to worry about anything now, it was Pidge. 

Coran had just finished attaching some sort of oxygen mask to her face and Keith couldn’t help but cringe at how awful the sight was. She had many pillows behind her upper back and head to keep them elevated. Her face was flushed and she looked like she was still struggling to take in air, but it wasn’t as bad as before. Her face was still in a tight grimace. Shiro looked like he could barely hold himself back from cradling Pidge against him again, but he didn’t want to risk jostling her too much. “I'll watch over her,” Allura said from where she sat in the chair by the bed. She gave Coran a knowing look.

“Paladins,” Coran whispered forcefully. Keith looked at him with a face tough as stone. Shiro looked fearful of what he had to say. Hunk held Lance close(r) to his chest when he knew what was coming, and Lance didn’t even look up at them as he worried his lip between his teeth. 

“We’re going to the lab. We have to make the medicine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but exciting chapter, sorry about that.
> 
> Lance's panic attack was based on my own, so I hope it was an accurate depiction. Lemme know if you have any issues with it.
> 
> Oh yeah, sorry for the cliffhanger.


	5. Chapter 5

The lab was a cool place to be at any other time. It had all these devices and computers to learn how to carefully poke and prod at (while Coran wasn’t looking). It was also very wide and gave it a roomy feel that Lance loved.

Now the lab was absolutely terrifying.

Lance wanted to go back to bed and wake up and have all of this been a dream. They never left Earth, Pidge never lost her father and brother, Shiro never got PTSD from being a space prisoner, and Allura and Coran were still there for some reason because that's what he wanted.

He was afraid to give up any of his quintessence. If others’ emotions could become unbalanced, then his would definitely go out of whack. He knew his head well enough. 

Coran pointed out the oval-shaped table in the center of the room. It looked like a normal table with a hanging lamp above it, except this lamp was attached by a metal cylinder and not a wire to the ceiling. What looked like the light bulb was pointed straight down like a carved diamond. 

“The observation table and lamp also act as the extractor. Only people in the room with their hands on the table will be extracted from. I control it from the computer to make sure it only takes what is absolutely required.” Coran’s face softened. “You do not need to be afraid. I will make sure you do not get hurt.” 

Hunk looked warily at Lance. His friend was clearly nervous. Hunk couldn’t blame him; he was scared for Lance too. Lance’s depression was the worst time in his life, and neither of them wanted to experience that again.

Keith watched them fidget with mild irritation. He wasn’t mad at them, but more mad at the situation to make them so scared. He wanted to keep them safe, and he would do just that. “Take my quintessence. I can handle it!”

Shiro looked at him sternly, but he wasn’t mad. “Keith, you are  _ not  _ doing this alone. I’ll give mine too.”

Coran grew slightly flustered when the paladins missed his point. “Well, I was more thinking that-”

“You can take mine too!” Hunk quickly interrupted, trying to make a point, then drew in on himself. “I-I’ve got a lot, I think? I’ll be okay, I just want to help Pidge.”

“Hold on, Hunk. I understand, but-”

“I’m doing it too!”

Everyone looked at Lance’s sudden outburst with varying amounts of concern. Hunk was the quickest to argue, “Lance, I know you want to help, but what about-”

“I’d be more upset,” Lance interjected again quietly, gaze lowered to the ground. “if any of you suffered because I didn’t contribute to the medicine. I’d be more upset if Pidge got better slower because I didn’t contribute to the medicine.” Lance looked into Hunk’s eyes with a steely resolve in his own watery ones. “I will give my quintessence too.”

Hunk looked stunned at Lance’s bravery. Lance gave no room for argument. Hunk chuckled. “Guess there’s no stopping you.”

Lance looked surprised by Hunk’s reaction then a smile grew on his face. “That’s right!”

Coran watched the interaction fondly until he brought them back on track. “It is better if you all gave an even amount anyway. You have the right idea, my boy.”

Lance grinned proudly at that.

Shiro gained their attention. “Okay, let’s do this!”

Coran instructed them to all put one hand on the table and clear their minds like they would when they’d form Voltron telepathically together in training. Instead of focusing on Voltron this time, they were to focus on their fondest memories. What they were fighting for. Who they were fighting for.

Coran refrained from announcing that the machine was charging to keep from interrupting their thoughts. The extractor whirred and groaned from ten thousand years of disuse. It was a distraction, a challenge for them. It was like an evil, horrid voice telling them  _ you can’t do this. You can’t even focus on saving your friend’s life.  _ But they pushed it away. They could save Pidge’s life. And they would.

It literally felt like their energy was being slowly sucked out of them.

Hunk felt like he was going to even  _ gag  _ at the sensation. Lance’s knees nearly buckled, and Shiro had to steady himself with his metal hand gripped on the table’s edge. Keith's face screwed up in intense concentration and he bit his lip so hard he tasted blood.

Coran remembered having to go through that himself and couldn’t resist looking away. He focused on the computer instead. It showed the quintessence container was slowly filling. It was only getting to about halfway full. “Almost there!” he couldn’t help but yell. He jumped away from the computer suddenly.

They focused with all they had.

Everything felt slow as the machine’s loud buzz slowly lessened into a dull hum. The four paladins felt themselves stop losing quintessence, and tested how they felt. Shiro looked around and saw Coran drag one last chair behind Keith and gratefully sat down in his own. Keith also slowly sat and gripped his hands on his knees and seemed to be leaning forward heavily on them. A small trail of blood trickled down his chin. Shiro opened his mouth to speak, but Keith knew it was coming and said, “Don’t.” Coran laid a napkin on Keith’s lap for him to use when he was ready, then ran off to finish creating the medicine for Pidge.

Shiro watched him closely even though he himself was  _ utterly exhausted.  _ But Coran was right. He felt no pain at least. 

“Lance?” 

Shiro looked over to Hunk, who had already sat down. He also noticed Lance who still stood up with one hand against the table, but he seemed to lean on it completely as his legs quivered. His face looked calm, though his eyes were tightly shut. Hunk called his name a second time, and Lance collapsed on the chair.

Hunk looked close to tears as he watched Lance cover his eyes with an elbow. Tears streamed down his face as he grimaced.

“Lance, are you okay?” Hunk asked, unable to hide his panic. 

Lance didn’t move as he cried. Just sat there silently aside from the occasional hiccup. He seemed to hear Coran yell, “I’ll be right back!” because he finally reacted. He smiled.

“We did it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was painful to write I'm so sorry you had to read it ;-;  
> (Then again I'm not actually sorry lol)
> 
> Onto the final chapter! It's the longest one, so get ready for Tuesday, guys and gals and non-binary pals!


	6. Chapter 6

No matter how much they wanted to rest, none of them could keep calm without knowing if Pidge was alright. Shiro and Keith were the ones who decided to leave the lab after a while of gathering their senses. Lance was still pretty out of it, so Hunk decided to stay there with him. Nobody argued with that.

They slowly made it to Pidge’s room, where Coran was just finishing up wrapping Pidge’s arm in bandaging. “Injection site is all wrapped up. She’s good to go,” he whispered to Allura. She nodded.

Shiro cleared his throat to get their attention. Allura looked at them and smiled. “How are you feeling?”

Keith spoke up before Shiro could, “Like I could knock out Zarkon and sleep for ten thousand years.”

The unexpected joke cause Shiro to sputter. Allura giggled and Coran smiled wide. “I take it you’re the same way, Shiro?” Coran asked.

Shiro shrugged. “Yeah, but I’m also kind of… very anxious.”

Coran’s smile became small and sympathetic. “I suspected that would happen. How are Lance and Hunk?”

Shiro’s face fell. “They’re pretty emotional, Lance more so. Seems he’s taking this the hardest.”

Coran nodded. “We’ll have to keep an eye on all of you. Try to stay with someone as often as possible. Destructive behavior is common during the recovery period. Be sure to tell the others.”

Keith nodded. “Roger that.”

“And then,” Allura said, “you will go rest in bed. Coran and I will watch over Pidge. You need not worry. We will get you when she wakes up.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Keith said with an interrupting yawn.

 

Pidge woke up hours later. Coran was the one to bring them to her room and see her. She couldn’t even get words out before Hunk and Lance were on her and bawling. She was a little flustered at first from all the attention but also appreciative. Shiro stood back with Keith and wasn’t afraid to admit that he teared up at the sight. Keith was a little red-faced fighting off his own tears and hitched breath but “It’s just stuffy in here from it being so crowded; SHUT UP!”

They stayed together and talked for hours. Lance and Hunk took up residence on Pidge’s bed, while Shiro and Allura took the chairs and Keith sat against the wall and Coran was cross-legged next to him. They talked about anything and everything they could think of. Memories of their Garrison days. That one experiment gone wrong when Lance managed to touch the  _ one wrong thing _ in the lab. They decided that they’d avoid discussing what happened for now. They were too exhausted to talk about feelings.

Lance had been fighting off sleep for the better part of half an hour before Hunk noticed him completely gone between Pidge and the wall and smiled. Hunk let himself doze after that. 

Shiro looked amused at the sight of the crowded bed, but Pidge chuckled and said, “Let them stay. We’ll work it out.” 

It wasn’t long before the other four left them to sleep. 

  
Days passed by without trouble. Everyone was recovering nicely it seemed. But tonight, Shiro couldn’t sleep. 

No matter how much he tossed and turned, he couldn’t get comfortable. When he did, he realized with a groan he wasn’t tired. He sat up and rubbed his face. It was only a few hours before he had to be awake. He decided that a walk through the halls might tire him out, and he got off the bed.

He was wandering passed the training deck when he heard something unusual. It sounded like metal-on-metal clashing. Then something collided roughly with the floor and yelled out.  _ Wait- that was someone. That was Keith. _

Shiro cursed under his breath and raced onto the training deck. Keith was currently trying to lift himself off the ground with wobbling arms and legs with a training bot looming over him. The bot lifted its weapon above its head.

Shiro acted fast. “End training sequence!”

The bot froze up. It straightened up and lowered its weapon to its side. Then it stepped back and descended into the ground. Shiro didn’t wait for the bot to leave before racing towards Keith. He kneeled next to him. “Keith! Are you okay?”

Keith didn’t respond but moved to sit on the ground instead of struggling to hold himself up. He panted for breath and nodded. Shiro watched him sadly and sat down next to him. He waited for Keith to catch his breath.

When Keith’s breathing evened out, he sat quietly and stared at the ground. Shiro tried to wait for Keith to speak up but realized he wouldn’t. “Why are you awake?”

Keith didn’t even look up when he shot back, “Why are  _ you  _ awake?”

Shiro hesitated then smirked at the idea he came up with. “I’ll tell you if you tell me.”

Keith looked up at Shiro with what he first thought was annoyance but quickly realized was confusion. “How old are you?”

Shiro blinked then burst out laughing. Keith smirked and started to chuckle too. They stayed that way for a while until they settled into a comfortable silence. Neither of them wanted to break it, but Keith spoke up, “I couldn’t sleep.” Shiro looked at him, and Keith looked up quickly too. “Not like I was upset or anything. Just couldn’t fall asleep. I decided training would make me tired. Then I just… forgot to stop, I guess.”

Shiro hummed. “Same here, except I just walked around the castle.” Keith looked back down on the floor. “How about you come to my room when you can’t sleep? Wake me up and we’ll… talk or something.”

Keith nodded then looked at Shiro again. “Only if you come to me too.” 

Keith gave no room for argument. Shiro grinned. “Sounds good to me.”

 

Lance was having trouble sleeping too but for a different reason. His nightmares had come back. 

Every night, he stayed in bed but fought off sleep. Most times he dozed, he’d see awful things that had him waking up in a cold sweat. He realized with dread after waking up the third time in one night that he couldn’t keep himself awake while in bed. So, he got up and wandered the castle.

He just went where his feet carried him. This took him past the training deck where he heard laughter. He thought that was unusual but decided he was too tired to investigate.

He didn’t notice he was walking to the kitchen until he was actually there. He made a beeline for the fridge to make the space-equivalent of warm milk. He opened the fridge.

“What are you doing, Lance?”

He jumped when he heard Hunk’s voice. He didn’t expect him to be in the kitchen at such an early hour, so he didn’t bother to look. That and he forgot to because he was so drained. He didn’t look away from the fridge.

“Lance?”

Hunk’s head peered around the fridge’s door. He looked concerned and  _ very  _ confused. Who wouldn’t be if their friend just waltzed into the kitchen and  _ completely  _ missed the other person in the room? Hunk was worried.

Lance rummaged through the fridge. “I want space-milk.”

Hunk’s face was blank for a second before he laughed. He reached over Lance’s head and grabbed the carton. “I’ll make it for ya, buddy.”

Lance pouted for a moment but didn’t argue. “Thanks, I guess.”

Hunk smirked as he grabbed a mug. “No problem.” He began to heat up the mug in what looked to be a space-microwave (use your imagination) and turned back to Lance. “So? Why did you come here? Can’t sleep?”

Lance subtly chewed his lip and nodded. “You could say that… How about you?”

“I just wasn’t tired, so I wandered around.” Hunk tried to not look concerned, but it was much more difficult while recovering from his loss of quintessence. He had become very emotional. He couldn’t help the frown on his face from forming. “You okay?”

Lance nodded again and stared at the floor. They stood in silence for a minute, then Lance shook his head.

“What’s going on?” Hunk asked as calmly as he could.

Lance fidgeted with the hem of his shirt and whispered, “My nightmares are back.”

Hunk let out a quiet breath as his face fell. He thought something like this would happen if Lance went through with giving up his quintessence. Hunk held out his arms. “Come here.”

Lance pressed himself into Hunk and gripped his shirt. He hated feeling so vulnerable. He wanted to be home. He wanted to go home.

Lance didn’t notice when he started crying, but when he did, he quickly pulled his face away from Hunk’s shirt and looked up abashedly at Hunk. He saw tears on Hunk’s face and became worried. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

Hunk grinned wider at his friend. He really hadn’t changed. “I’m just worried.”

Lance’s eyebrows furrowed. “About what?”

Hunk held Lance’s head and let him lean against him, staining his shirt with more tears. “You, ya doof.”

Lance froze, then he began to shake. Hunk’s worry grew tenfold until he heard muffled laughter. He laughed with him.

They stood in comfortable silence until Lance sighed. Hunk waited for him to speak, and he did. “Can I sleep in your room tonight?” Lance looked up at him shyly.

“Of course,” Hunk said as he led them out of the kitchen.

“Thanks.”

“No problem, man.”

 

Pidge was supposed to be in bed just to be sure she didn’t relapse, but she was  _ so tired  _ of being in that room almost every hour of every day. She had just been allowed to come to the table for meals again, and no one was constantly at her bedside anymore, but she was done being babied. So when she woke up one early morning, she went to the observation deck. She had planned to sit there alone and watch the cosmos.

When she walked through the door, someone was already there. 

Allura was sitting on the floor watching the stars. It was a little out of character for Pidge to see the princess like that, but it wasn’t like she wasn’t allowed to watch the stars. Unlike herself.

“Pidge, why are you up?”

Shoot, busted.

Allura didn’t get up, so Pidge walked over and sat next to her. “I just wanted to get out of my room.”

Allura smiled. “I understand completely.” Pidge looked at her with complete confusion, and Allura laughed. “I’m surprised Coran hasn’t told you yet. It’s so much like when I was a child.”

Pidge thought for a moment. Realization dawned on her, and she said, “you got sick like that?”

Allura nodded. “Yes. We had nearly eliminated disease entirely, but sometimes we still grew ill. Children were the most common to be sick, and I contracted a painful illness. I was bedridden for weeks until they had to make me the medicine.”

“Why didn’t they give you the medicine right away?” Pidge asked.

It was Allura’s turn to be confused. “Have we really not discussed this?” Pidge shook her head. Allura didn’t want to be the one to explain, but she knew Pidge wasn’t going to let this slide. So she explained how the medicine was made with quintessence. She also explained the side effects of taking quintessence for medicine. 

Pidge became scared. “Are you okay? What about everyone else? Are they okay?”

Allura nodded. “They are lethargic, but they’re making a much swifter recovery than expected. They have a great amount of quintessence like you do. That’s why you all make perfect paladins.”

Pidge’s eyes widened. She was astonished but also relieved. “So you nor Coran gave quintessence?”

Allura said, “No. I was watching you at the time and Coran was working the extractor. He doesn’t like the topic of extraction, so when he pushed through and worked the device, I was really proud.”

“Why doesn’t he like it?” Pidge asked hesitantly. She felt like she was approaching territory that wasn’t her’s to know.

“Coran… lost a good friend to the effects of quintessence loss. It was a rare occurrence, so it shook us all. Even after years, he was never one to be near that device.”

Pidge looked down sadly. “I’m sorry.”

Allura smiled and rubbed Pidge’s back. “It’s okay. We’re here now, and we’re better because of it.”

Pidge nodded. “Yeah.”

They sat and watched the cosmos.

 

Eventually, it was time for breakfast. Shiro and Keith were the first to arrive, finding Hunk already almost done cooking breakfast. Coran quickly arrived, dragging Allura and Pidge to the table with him. He stood proudly as they sat down and said, “I found these two out of bed this morning on the observation deck.”

Shiro raised a quizzical eyebrow. “What were you doing?”

Pidge shrugged. “Watching the stars.”

“Sorry for the wait!” Hunk cried as he carried multiple plates into the room. He set down the first one and said, “Breakfast is served.”

“Looks good, Hunk,” Shiro said as he took his plate. “Thank you.”

“I hope it’s good. I tried to make something new,” Hunk replied as he placed two plates in front of two empty seats. “I’m gonna check on Lance. Make sure he’s awake.”

“Why? He should be fine. He’s probably getting up late like usual,” Keith said.

“I just,” Hunk thought to himself, then shook his head. “wanna make sure.”

They watched him leave. Keith cast his confused gaze to Pidge, who just shrugged. “Don’t ask me.”

Shiro decided that if something was going on with Lance that Hunk didn’t want to talk about, then that was their decision. They would talk when they wanted to. “So, Pidge,” Shiro began, “how are you feeling?”

Pidge couldn’t resist rolling her eyes. “Can’t you start a conversation with me any other way?” She asked with a snarky look.

“Oh yeah?” Keith looked amused. “What else have you done besides lay in bed and sneak off to see stars?” Pidge glared at him, but there was no real malice in her eyes. “Exactly.”

Lance announced his presence in the room with an exaggerated yawn. “So are you going to tell me  _ now  _ what you made for breakfast? You’re killing me here, Hunk.”

Hunk laughed. “I might have made space waffles.”

Lance gasped. “No way!” he yelled as he sat down and eyed the food.

“Weren’t you yawning just seconds ago?” Pidge asked Lance, as Hunk took the last seat.

“Hey, that was the best I’ve slept in weeks. I may be tired, but I gotta start somewhere.” Then he dug into his food.

Pidge was absolutely baffled. “Okay, who are you and what have you done with Lance?”

“Easy, Pidge,” Shiro quickly said. He put down his fork and cleared his throat. “Alright, everyone. I think it’s about time we discuss what happened recently.” That got everyone’s attention. Shiro knew none of them really  _ wanted  _ to bring up the topic, neither did he, but they had to learn from past mistakes and grow as a team.

Pidge decided to go first. “I overworked myself and got sick because of it. I won’t let it happen again.” She looked like a scolded child.

“We’re not mad,” Shiro cleared up. “We just care about you. We understand what you were trying to do, but we struggle as a team when we aren’t whole.”

Pidge nodded again but didn’t look up from her plate. Lance decided that enough was enough and suddenly hugged her. “Nothing was fun when you were sick, Pidgeon! It was so gloomy without you.”

Pidge returned the hug. “Thanks, I guess?”

Lance pulled away but still looked at her. “Look, I’m not good at being sappy, but Shiro’s right. I can at least say  _ I _ care.”

Pidge was speechless. 

Lance’s mood made a one-eighty as he turned to Keith. “This guy, I’m not so sure about. As soon as he could, he ran for the hills.”

Keith was offended for a second until he realized Lance was pulling his leg. He decided to bite back. “Hey, I stayed up  _ all _ night to help Coran in the lab. You went to sleep!”

“Um, we took shifts, Keith. I know you were kicked out of the garrison, but I thought you had at least gained some common sense. By the way, you missed out, ‘cause Hunk is very cuddly!”

“Lance!”

“I’m not lying! Tell him, Pidge. ...Pidge?”

Pidge couldn’t answer, she was laughing so hard. She wasn’t the only one. Allura, Coran, nor Shiro could contain their laughter. Except Pidge was crying too. She was moved by how much they cared. They all reminded her so much of her family. She knew they all had families they missed dearly, and that thought weighed heavily on them all. But they had made their own family. 

Moments later, Lance was hugging her again. “We’re okay now,” he said.

Pidge nodded between the laughter and tears. Yeah.

They were okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end! Thank you all so much for reading and commenting. I appreciate each and every one of you. It's been so much more fun to post and wait for comments to roll in, even if I got 3 or 4 per chapter. I loved posting this, and I'm definitely considering writing more. I forgot how fun this was. :)  
> If you're reading this before 3:30 pm central time on 5/23/17, your comments will be shown to my English teacher. I've been so excited to show her these (and I also may have gotten her into Voltron sorry not sorry lol)  
> Thanks for reading! <3

**Author's Note:**

> I love comments, and I also want to show them to my English teacher, so lemme have 'em.  
> I'll update this every two days. :)


End file.
